


Who Holds Rights to The Timeline

by Skaldfifla_Hlutr



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Umbrella Academy (TV), Thor (Movies)
Genre: TVA, five needs a break, not another apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skaldfifla_Hlutr/pseuds/Skaldfifla_Hlutr
Summary: Why do apocalypses follow the Hargreaves siblings like a plague? Five tries to contact Herb at the Temps Commission Only to be dragged into another job. Little does he know that his target is an agent from an agency competing with the Temps Commission for control over the “correct” timeline.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Who Holds Rights to The Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> I took some liberties in the identity of the enigmatic TVA character, Mr. Tesseract. I haven’t read the comics. Sorry, not sorry to purest comic book readers. Just having some fun here.
> 
> Warning that there is a pseudo suicide scene, in the case there are sensitive readers.

It has been a week since their arrival at the Sparrow academy and it was more and more apparent that they had accidentally hopped over to a different timeline parallel to their own - which was odd because the mission statement for the Commission was to essentially, at all costs, preserve “The Timeline.” As in singular. Any sprouts of potential parallel timelines should have been pruned long before it comes to fruition. I’ll have to look into that, Five thought to himself.

The rest of his siblings were setting in fine, adjusting, adapting to this different yet familiar world. Five was adjusting to this world quite well, too, getting used to his new, old body. After all, he wouldn’t have been able to survive the apocalypse if he wasn’t adaptable. But still, there was something nagging at his mind, that things were too perfect, too safe, too peaceful in this timeline. From his Sparrow Academy pseudo siblings, he had gathered that there was an alien invasion in 2011 and another world catastrophe in 2015, but there were plenty of super powered beings in this world that stepped up to avert apocalypse-like scenarios. Sparrow had its notoriety, but dealt with more local matters. No one was knowledgeable in regards to the future or the Temps Commission. Whatever his dad knew, he kept hidden, speaking in riddles rather than words. 

Five had to find a way to get in touch with the Commission. Maybe Herb could lend him a hand.

* * *

Five sat in the coffee shop eyeing his target sitting on a park bench across the street. This is the kid that the Handler wants dead. He’s better than I thought, Five mused. The kid had been evading him and disappearing into crowds for a day and a half now. Most of his targets don’t live past 12 hours after his arrival.

A knife presses against Five’s throat and a voice whispers into his ear, “I would offer you a shave, but with a face so smooth, I’m afraid my hand might slip.” The voice was as smooth as liquid velvet and young - possibly around the same age as his biological body.

“Interesting,” Five says calmly. “There aren’t many people that can slip behind me undetected. You’re not Commission. Who are you?”

“Oh just your average teenager minding his own business at the park,” the voice replied. 

Five blinks behind the owner of the voice and steadily stares face to face at his hit target. “Last time I checked, average teenagers don’t have decoys of themselves or casually threaten to slit people’s throats.”

“TVA. You can call me Mr. Tesseract,” the youth says, slowly turning around as the decorated dagger he was holding magically disappears, “Mr. Five, I presume.”

By his relaxed demeanor, Five could deduce that this youth, his target, Mr. Tesseract, was either very confident in his abilities, was well aware of Five’s abilities or both. Likely both.

Five eyed him suspiciously. “How about we find a quieter place to talk.”

With a small nod, Mr. Tesseract followed Five out and into a back alley behind the coffee shop.

“What do you want, Mr. Five, I’m a busy man. Plenty of pigeons to feed, flowers to pick, people to stab,” Mr. Tesseract said, picking at his nails.

“I don’t know who the TVA are, but my employer notified me of an anomaly in time. Someone who isn’t supposed to be here that will put the timeline at risk,” Five said. Their conversation had just started and he already didn’t like how it was going. Dread lingered in the pit of his stomach as the Handler, who he had presumed dead, decided to show up as if nothing happened and personally handed him an order to eliminate a target during his attempt to contact Herb. The last time that had happened was Lila’s parents. The whole situation stinks of fish. He wonders if this Serrure, or Mr. Tesseract, as he calls himself, is like the rest of his siblings. Like him. But then again, in this world, being super-powered really wasn’t that special.

“The Temps Commission is not the sole agency guarding the timeline, silly boy,” Mr. Tesseract chuckled, “You can think of the TVA as,” he exaggeratedly paused as if to think for a moment, ”hmmm… competition.” A feral grin spread across his face.

Five smiled inwardly to himself, a child calling him “silly boy.” If only he knew how old he really is. 

“Perhaps this timeline the Commission is guarding is in direct conflict with the one we are guarding,” Mr. Tesseract continues. “In fact, I was sent here at this point in time, to stop _you_ from interfering. I was just playing along so I could catch myself a sweet little piranha,” he said mockingly, lightly pinching Five’s cheek. “The universe will suffer from a cataclysmic event, Mr. Five. Half of all living things in the universe will be wiped out in 16 days,” Mr. Tesseract gave another pause for Five to take in the information.

Five’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes glazed over. It can’t be. Not another apocalypse. It followed them again?

He got a bite. Mr. Tesseract was enjoying seeing all the emotions flitter across Mr. Five’s face at the news. “This one is bigger than Earth. It is not something you could prevent or avert. Heh, I would know,” Mr. Tesseract chucked bitterly. “But fear not, little one. The universe resets and those lost in the event will return in five year’s time.”

Five looks up at Mr. Tesseract. Mr. Tesseract wraps an arm around Five’s shoulders in an overly friendly manner and with a flash of blue, they disappear.

* * *

Diego was on his way to the police station when he noticed Five and another boy walk into the back alley. He knew Five could take care of himself, but couldn’t help but worry over his brother. He kept his distance and watched them from afar. The old bastard had probably noticed him snooping already.

Diego watched as Five’s neutral expression twist into horror at something the other boy said. Anything that would make Five react that way was really bad. Diego made a mad sprint towards his brother, but was too late. The other boy wrapped his arm around Five as a glowing blue cube magically appeared in his other hand. The boy’s eyes met Diego’s momentarily and with a predatory grin and a flash of blue, he disappeared with Five.

Not good, not good, not good. Diego ran back to the academy. He needed to regroup with the rest of his siblings and see if the Sparrows knew anything about the mysterious boy. Something was telling him this was no ordinary boy they were dealing with.

He nearly ran over Klaus as he charged into the mansion, but grabbed hold of his shoulders just in time to steady him. “Klaus, where are the others? Someone kidnapped Five.”

Klaus’s hands instinctively shot up to grab fistfuls of his hair and started to panic. “Wha, Five? Who even has the guts to kidnap that murder bot? Allison and Luther are upstairs getting ready to head to the airport. Vanya is at her apartment,” he babbled and paced, not quite sure what to do.

Diego shook Klaus a little by the shoulders, “Hey, hey. Call Vanya and tell her to meet us here as soon as she can,” he said slowly.

Klaus frantically nodded and ran downstairs to the phone as Diego rushed upstairs to brief Allison and Luther. Maybe he could get some information from Sparrow Ben while they are waiting for Vanya.

* * *

Five snapped back to attention as Mr. Tesseract did something to envelope them in a flash of blue light and landed in a nicely furnished apartment. The feeling was akin to his own spacial jumps, but this one covered a much farther distance.

“How did you…”

“The Tesseract. Here, sit. Make yourself comfortable,” Mr. Tesseract said. “Of course I can teleport without it, but,” with a shimmer of green Mr. Tesseract appears next to Five on the comfy couch, “who wants to waste that kind of energy.” 

Mr. Tesseract tosses the Tesseract into the air and it disappears much like how his dagger had at the cafe.

Five stares at him, unamused. Now he’s just showing off. 

“The Tesseract is a little tool I found that lets me move through space and sometimes even time without expending my own magic.”

“Magic,” Five found himself repeating absentmindedly. Before the unusually chatty Mr. Tesseract could explain, Five’s eyes narrowed and blinked behind Mr. Tesseract, shooting twice into his head. Whether he could fix this apocalypse or not, this kid is still the target and needed to be eliminated. Maybe if he could get on this Handler’s good side, he still had a chance. 

Unfortunately for Five, Mr. Tesseract was unscathed. To Five’s surprise, the bullets had just bounced off as if they were rubber.

“Now look here you little shit,” the calm, smoothness in his voice was replaced by annoyance, “I might look like a child and I might be bound by the wretched TVA, but I am still a god. It will do you well to remember that!” Mr. Tesseract hissed.

Five blinks again, this time to the kitchen. “I’m sorry, I never believed in god,” He says as he grabs a few knives and throws them towards Mr. Tesseract.

“Child’s play,” Mr. Tesseract commented, deflecting one and catching the other as he throws his own dagger towards Five.

Five blinks to dodge and lands face first into Mr. Tesseract’s hand. A burst of light hits him as he relives his most painful memories. Watching his siblings die over and over.

Mr. Tesseract lets go. Five tries to compose himself, as he struggles to regain his footing and backs into the couch.

“Calculation error during a jump?” Mr. Tesseract pivoted to distract himself. 

“Yup,” Five said, popping the “p.” His heart was still racing and he was exhausted, but his brain fought to stay in control.

“Yea, sucks,” Mr. Tesseract said slumping onto the couch next to Five. “Heh with my magic limited in this body, not even I could fix it. I can only pretend,” he said shifting to look like his adult self, but the illusion fizzled out within seconds.

Mr. Tesseract hands Five an ice cold beer from out of nowhere as he himself took a long drag of unknown shimmering liquid from a decorated bottle. He cursed this body. Nearly wiped by by a single measly spell. He was done with making small talk and indulging Five’s curiosity. The TVA better take a good chunk out of his sentence for this babysitting - even if said baby was actually an old man.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment too long as they processed the fact that both made a dumb mistake when time jumping and were stuck as children. 

Let’s start over, Mr. Tesseract sighed, resigning to the fact that he has to be the mature adult here.

“So, a ridiculous father and a dumb, muscle bound brother, huh?” Mr. Tesseract starts.

* * *

“Wait, describe the other guy again?” The other Ben asked.

Diego was a bit tired of going over the information again and was itching for some action to find Five. “Slicked black hair, green eyes, pale skin, green hoodie, green shimmery shit and glowing cube,” Diego sighed. Funny how after explaining it for the fourth time, it was almost as if he were describing Five’s appearance, swap green shimmer for blue and a suitcase instead of a cube.

“Interesting,” the other Ben said, “And how old did you say he looked?”

“About 15 or 16? Why, do you have a lead?”

The Umbrella siblings all looked towards the other Ben. 

“Well, it sounds like you are describing Loki, the alien that tried to take over the planet in 2011. He was an adult the last time we saw him, but he is said to be able to change his appearance. The blue cube is the giveaway because that’s what he was looking for on Earth. But it doesn’t make sense, he was supposed to be facing punishment on his home planet,” the other Ben explained. “If Loki’s the one we are looking at, I could tell you, your brother is in a shit ton of trouble. It took a whole team of supers to take him down last time he came to visit.”

“We have to find him,” Allison said, full of worry. “Where should we start looking?”

“I’ll head to the station to see if they have any records of kids matching his profile,” Diego declared, “Allison, you and Vanya go to the library to read up on this Loki character.”

“I’ll scope out the area where Five disappeared with Klaus and ask around about the boy,” Luther said. “Meet back here at 1900 hours.”

“Wait,” the other Ben called, “I’ll come with,” he volunteered. “And here. These will come in handy.” He said as he handed everyone communication devices.

“What? We never had these!” Klaus complained. He fought the urge to roll his eyes, “ugh these would have made missions so much easier! Technology finally caught up!”

“Uh... we have had this technology since we were kids,” the other Ben informed.

Klaus’s mind was blown - which for the record, wasn’t hard, but still. If they had this type of technology for so long, why ever the hell did dear Papa not give it to them? If they had proper communication, maybe he could have arrived in time to save Ben. Their Ben.

“Come on,” the other Ben said, patting his shoulder and pushing him out the door of the Sparrow Academy.

* * *

Five took a shaky sip out of the bottle. He had to focus on his breathing and keep the panic from taking control. He’s had 45 years of practice, he can muscle through this, figuratively speaking. He’s also with his target, someone potentially more dangerous than he had ever faced.

Mr. Tesseract just kept talking and talking. God he’s worse than Klaus. That did it. Five needed to focus, if not for himself, then for his family. Another apocalypse is impending, (at least it’s not caused by them this time) and he’s going to try his damn hardest to make sure they come out unscathed.

“Why are you telling me all this stuff?” Five asked, cutting into Mr. Tesseract's monologue.

Mr. Tesseract grinned wickedly. “Why to keep you here, of course. We can’t have you, especially, running around changing events that are supposed to happen. Well not that you’ll make a difference in the grand scheme of things anyways, but certainly don’t need you adding to the damage.”

I knew it, Five thought. He tried blinking out of the apartment, only to find himself back on the couch each time.

“Save your energy,” Mr. Tesseract waved lazily. “This apartment exists in a glitch in time. I've warded it so you can’t teleport out. No need trying to time travel,” he added. “That won’t work either. I made sure of that. I read your file.”

“So if you’re dead, does the spell break?” Five asks, flipping an extra knife he grabbed from the kitchen earlier.

“Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not.”

Five analyzed that Mr. Tesseract was too calm. Something was up. 

“Look. Not that you can, but killing me won’t make a difference either,” Mr. Tesseract, exhaled. “The me that occupied this time and space died…” he checked his watch, “oh about 53 minutes ago trying to stop the madman who brought the annihilation of half of all life forms in the universe. Like I said, it’s bigger than you and me.”

Had the Handler set him up? Five wasn’t listening to what Mr.Tesseract said. He opened the window to jump only to find himself on the couch again.

“See?” Mr. Tesseract said, handing him a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. “Food?”

Five reluctantly took it. He needed to have energy if he was going to escape. 

Mr. Tesseract had been excessively chatty this whole time. Almost as if he were briefing Five of what is to come - planting seeds of thought. There had to be a reason he was keeping me alive, Five thought. It would have been much easier just to eliminate me.

“What is your game, Mr. Tesseract?” Five asked, getting down to business.

“Whatever do you mean, Mr. Five?” Mr. Tesseract asked feigning innocence.

“You don’t expect me to believe you’re giving me all this information, just to keep me here until I can no longer interfere with the new apocalypse.”

“Old actually - for your original timeline, that is. This one had been in play when you landed in the wasteland the first time in your own timeline. It just so happened that you, being the only human on Earth at the time, didn’t get sacrificed with all the other poor souls. Since Earth was already in the shit, it made little difference. And no, I don’t expect you to believe those are my intentions.”

Five waited for him to finish, but was left unsatisfied. Five would have to try a different tactic. “And if I kill myself?” He turns the knife to his own neck.

The side of Mr. Tesseract’s mouth gave a subtle twitch, but he kept his expression neutral. Bingo, Five thought. He does need me to do something.

“Be my guest. I’ll just pluck another you from somewhere else in time,” Mr. Tesseract bluffed.

“But I’m still me and I will always react in the same way,” Five said calling his bluff. Five lowered the knife from his neck, allowing Mr. Tesseract to let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

Without warning, Five repeatedly stabbed himself in the heart and underarm to maximize blood letting. It would have taken too long to die if he stabbed himself in the throat. Mr. Tesseract was no run of the mill agent. He knew what was lethal and what could be salvaged. If Five was going to put his life on the line for a bet, it had to be convincing.

Mr. Tesseract let out a feral growl and leaped into action, catching Five before he fell. He wretched the knife out of Five’s hand and acted fast to rip his shirt open and staunch the bleeding with his magic. 

As soon as the bleeding slowed, he dragged himself to the next room to grab a couple healing stones and crushed them over Five’s stab wounds. The healing properties of the stones would have to do. Mr. Tesseract didn’t have the seidr reserves he used to and he was already running on empty. Taking one last glance at his work to ensure Mr. Five’s survival, He let out another breath of relief. No one was around and the floor looked so cozy…

Fatigue had taken over and Mr. Tesseract, Serrure, past Loki, God of Mischief, inadvertently allowed himself the indignity, yet satisfaction, of collapsing on the floor for some good rest.

* * *

Five woke up parched, but refreshed, with not a stab wound or scar in sight. If it weren’t for the sorry state of his shirt and the puddle of blood he was lying in, he would have thought Mr. Tesseract turned back time, much like he did in 1963.

Mr. Tesseract was lying face down on the ground next to him. Five got up gingerly, careful to jostle any hidden wounds only to find that it was unnecessary. He felt fine - as if the past four weeks hadn’t happened. He scooted closer to Mr. Tesseract’s unconscious form and flipped him over to find him snoring lightly.

“Has your robot ever told you it’s creepy when you stare at people as they sleep?” Mr. Tesseract mumbled groggily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “You’re welcome by the way.”

“For what?”

“For what, he says,” Mr. Tesseract mutters as he presses a palm against his forehead to cool the headache. “For saving your measly life, mortal!”

“Ah, yes. Where were we?” Five smiles unpleasantly as he puts a knife to his own throat again. 

“Wait, wait. What do you want, Mr. Five? I really rather not go through that again,” Mr. Tesseract says. “You’re cleaning up all the blood, by the way.”

“This place, it’s safe from the apocalypse?”

Mr. Tesseract slowly nodded.

“My family, here. Until it’s over,” Five demanded.

Mr. Tesseract started giggling, which eventually turned into hysterical laughter. “You. Don’t. Care. About. The. Rest. Of. The. World?” He manages to choke out between chuckles. All this work, only to save five fleeting little mortal lives?

Five stares silently. He did care, but his family comes first, no matter how dysfunctional they were. He would have given nearly anything just to have his siblings by his side in that post-apocalyptic world he braved alone.

“You said so yourself, in five years, it resets. So obviously you need someone with knowledge of time travel outside of the TVA to ensure the reset.”

At this point, Mr. Tesseract was laughing so hard, he had keeled over. 

Five spoke over the laughter, “If you want my help, give me my family first. I…” Five had to calm his emotions before going on, “I don’t think I can watch all of them die again.”

Mr. Tesseract stopped laughing. Mr. Five’s words had struck a tender nerve that he did not want to admit he had.

Mr. Tesseract knew Mr. Five’s type well. Truth be told, he knew Mr. Five could, in fact, survive watching the death of his siblings a few more times, but the price would be a heart and soul broken and twisted beyond repair. Despite his tricks, it was a fate he wouldn’t wish on anybody. 

Mr. Five was special. He _is_ the contingency plan should Stark fail to figure out time travel. Serrure’s very existence rests on the Avenger’s time machine and failed effort to borrow the Tesseract from 2011 in the aftermath of the invasion.

“Deal.”

* * *

Time passed differently in the apartment. Hours in the apartment translated to days in the outside world and it was currently April 25th 2019, 11:36am. Approximately one day until the next apocalypse. Five seriously hoped this whole apocalypse thing didn’t become a routine.

Mr. Tesseract was giving him 24 hours to wrangle his siblings and bring them to the apartment. The consequences of failing to meet the deadline was so lenient and simple, it was laughable. It had confirmed Five’s suspicions that Mr. Tesseract is soft, but would never admit it.

Failure to arrive would be treated as forfeiting the family reunion. Mr. Tesseract would follow his original plan to restrain “present” Five and pluck an instance of an untainted, desperate thirteen year old (in mind and body) Five, just minutes before his faithful jump. “Present” Five would then be released and eventually cease to exist. His siblings, whose existences all depended on “present” Five’s detour to the ‘60s and then hop over to this timeline, will also cease to exist. Problem solved.

Mr. Tesseract dropped Five off at the Academy along with a folded note with instructions on how to get back in the apartment.

An hour passed. Then another. Five’s patience was running low as he only saw the Sparrows running in and out on various missions.

Just as he was about to leave, Allison and Vanya returned.

“Five!” Vanya blurted, surprised. She went in for a hug. “Where have you been these past few days? Diego said you were kidnapped.”

Five awkwardly hugged back with one arm. He had always been an awkward hugger. Although he appreciated the sentiment, all those years alone in a post-apocalyptic world did him no favors in terms of physical affection.

“We were so worried,” Allison added, going in for her hug. “The other Ben said that your captor may be an alien that had tried to take over Earth. Locki, God of Mischief, they called him.”

Five huffed at the new information. Mr. Tesseract never mentioned anything about taking over Earth. So the Handler did set him up. He did mention he was a god, but Five had dismissed it as someone who had a god complex. He wasn’t sure how much of the Handler’s memories were intact, but he had a suspicion that this job in particular was designed for thorn removal - either Five succeeds and the Commission’s version of the timeline is preserved or he fails and he is no longer a time bomb at her side.

“It’s actually Loki, Norse God of Mischief,” Five corrected, “or a version of him, at least. Look, Allison, Vanya, I’ll explain later, but I really need to find the others. Do you know where they are?”

Five needed another little conversation with Mr. Tesseract. Just to clear things up about his intentions. If he is the God of Mischief, Five needed to know whether he was trustworthy or whether this whole thing was an elaborate lie the god had told to get away. Then again, it did look like he expended a large amount of energy to keep Five alive. Five brushed off his overactive mind. Talk first, decisions later.

“Can I trust you guys to gather the others? I’ll meet you here in two hours.”

* * *

Klaus wandered to where the ghost with the thick Aussie accent claimed he saw Five and the other boy. He stood in front of the door of the rundown apartment the Aussie ghost said they had gone in, but in an in-between realm.

“What’s an in-between realm?” Klaus wondered out loud.

“Not sure, really, but of all people, I know _you_ can get in,” the dead Aussie cheerfully encouraged.

“How do I do that?” 

Without warning the ghost pushed him off the fourth floor. Klaus woke up to the worst headache ever - well maybe not worst, but it certainly makes top ten. He squeezes his eyes closed to get rid of the ringing in his head.

Once he felt normal again, Klaus ran back up to the apartment, angry at the ghost, “Hey what’s the big idea? You could have killed me!”

The Aussie just smiled and pointed at the door. 

Klaus looked wearily, trying to think of where he had seen the familiar smile. The door was unlocked and clicked open. Distracted, he lost his train of thought and wandered inside.

He was barely halfway in the door when he felt the cold metal of a blade pressed against his neck.

“Hmm that’s odd. How did a lost sheep find this place?” came the sound of a young, silky voice.

“Uh… wrong house?” Klaus said, raising his hands in surrender.

Catching a glimpse of the umbrella tattoo on his wrist, Mr. Tesseract connected the dots. “Ah. One of Mr. Five’s brothers, I presume. Congratulations. You’re the first one here!” He said making the decorated dagger disappear. “But I must ask, how _did_ you find this place? My home is not exactly the easiest to get to,” Mr. Tesseract asked, genuinely interested. And it was true, this reality of the apartment existed in a glitch in time. Only those who were lost in time and space could physically find it - and even so, only when they knew what they were looking for. _This_ little sheep was obviously lost.

* * *

Five arrived near the apartment to find Klaus laying on the gravel. Five shook Klaus a bit and gave him a couple good slaps. He was unconscious and unresponsive - which isn’t a surprise knowing Klaus, but he also wasn’t breathing. Definitely a cause for alarm.

That bastard better not have killed him. Rage filled his eyes as Five blinked to Mr. Tesseract’s apartment, answers the riddle and starts banging on the door. Knowing full well it wouldn’t grant him access, Five was about to kick the door in just as Mr. Tesseract opens it.

“What the fuck did you do to my brother! I swear I’ll find a way to fuckin kill you!” Five shouted trying to shove Mr. Tesseract as soon as he opened the door (keyword “trying”). Mr. Tesseract didn’t budge, but craned his neck to see what was the cause of the small growing crowd downstairs.

Klaus stood up from the couch, holding a mug of tea. “Fivey is that you?”

“You’re alive,” Five said, letting out a breath of relief. He did a double take at the body outside.

“Alive?” Klaus repeated. The mug of tea dropped to the floor. “Oh!” he just said, looking he just remembered something and disintegrated.

Five’s eyes grew wide with a wave of emotion only for a shriek downstairs to bring him back.

Five ran down to where Klaus’s body had been to see him holding his head and trying to stand on wobbly, lanky legs. Five ducked under his arm to hold him steady.

“Nothing to see here, he’s fine,” Five announced trying to wave off the small crowd.

They made their way back to the apartment and entered ignoring Mr. Tesseract, who was holding the door for them like a hotel doorman.

“You never told me you could do that.”

“I didn’t know either, but dear old ‘Papa’ did mention that I’ve only barely scratched the surface of my potential,” Klaus said waving off Five’s concern and collapsing on the couch.

“You know I’m still here right?” Mr. Tesseract reminded only to be continually unacknowledged. 

Five was showing a rare moment of concern and Klaus was going to milk it, but Five didn’t take the bait. Business first as usual, Klaus huffed.

“So, God of Mischief, huh?”

Mr. Tesseract was a bit surprised at the information Five gathered in such a short time.

“One, but not the only,” Loki gave a showman’s bow and purposely directed a charming wink at Klaus.

“And I take it that I should trust you and this isn’t just an elaborate setup?” Five interrogated calmly.

The political smile faded and Loki’s teenaged face reddened with anger. He cursed the lack of emotional control and maturity a child’s body had. “What part of, ‘a version of me died for this war’ do you not understand? My brother watched me die days ago and is now on the other side of the planet fighting a war the general population will never know about! When I am stuck here babysitting you mortal children!” he spat.

“Immortal,” Klaus raised a hand in volunteer.

A dagger appeared with the flip of Loki’s wrist. “You weren’t part of my assignment.” Loki was completely done with these siblings' antics and poor timing. He really needed to stab someone - all the better if he won’t die anyways.

“OK, OK,” Five said, getting in between Loki and Klaus with his hands held up to calm everyone down.

“Fine. Stay put or leave I don’t care anymore. I really don’t have to deal with this bullshit,” Loki said, slamming the door to his apartment. He needed a breather. Or maybe some coffee. “It was just a few scant decades anyways. TVA can screw itself,” he muttered on the way downstairs to find a coffeeshop.

It was getting late and the only place probably open was Griddy’s. Loki eyed the group in the corner suspiciously before perching himself at the bar. Those were Mr. Five’s other siblings. Better avoid them and let Mr. Five deal with them to save himself the headache.

Loki orders himself a coffee and tries to enjoy it as the group’s chitchat and poorly hidden glances burn holes onto his back.

“Hey, that’s the kid,” Diego said in a low whisper.

Vanya ducked down trying to be inconspicuous, only to make her stand out more. “Are you sure? He doesn’t look like a crazed alien trying to take over the world.”

“And Five doesn’t look like a mass murderer,” Allison retorted.

“Well he does kind of look like Five,” Luther commented.

Allison rolled her eyes.

“Just saying,” Luther says.

“Guys, I don’t like this,” Allison said. “Five said he was going to look for this kid and talk to him, Klaus is still missing and now he shows up here alone with not a care in the world sans our brothers.” 

“Why don’t we just go ask him,” the other Ben said.

Diego cut in, “No. If our information is correct, this guy is highly dangerous. We need to…”

Out of the corner of their eyes they see a green shimmer and hear an exasperated sigh, “Come along, I’ll bring you to your brothers.” 

Why must I do everything, Loki thought.

Loki took out the tesseract and with a blue flash, they landed in the apartment. 

Loki hung out in the background as the siblings swapped their insufferable reunion greetings. He cursed as he felt his existence begin to fade. He needed to tell Mr. Five what to do before this version of him disappears forever. He had made too many mistakes as Loki. Maybe this version of him, stuck in this wretched body, was given a chance to start over.

“Well I’m glad everyone is happy,” Loki cut in. “Mr. Five, a word please.”

Five immediately noticed Loki’s semi-opaque hand. “The Temps Commission?”

Loki reluctantly nodded. “They may have taken out a catalyst that enabled present me to manifest. I can’t imagine a Midgardian bound Temps Commission has the firepower to take my adult form down.” He flexed his hands a bit. “I’m counting on you to make sure this isn’t permanent.”

There was no time. The teenage version of Loki disintegrated before he had a proper conversation with Five, but Five didn’t need it. He had an idea of what he needed to do. He owed Mr. Tesseract a debt that he intends on repaying. At least it will give him something to do.

They will ride out this apocalypse in the apartment first and then he’ll set his plans into action.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not sure who else found it funny that Sir Reginald Hargreaves and Laufey was played by the same actor.


End file.
